On the ratification of the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Government of the Kingdom of Sweden on the Promotion and Mutual Protection of Investments

Home / RLA / On the ratification of the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Government of the Kingdom of Sweden on the Promotion and Mutual Protection of Investments

Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated March 17, 2006 No. 133

To ratify the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Government of the Kingdom of Sweden on the Promotion and Mutual Protection of Investments, signed in Stockholm on October 25, 2004.

President of the Republic of Kazakhstan

Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Government of the Kingdom of Sweden on the promotion and Mutual Protection of Investments

(Official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan - Entered into force on August 1, 2006)

The Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Government of the Kingdom of Sweden, wishing to strengthen economic cooperation for the mutual benefit of both countries and maintain fair and equal conditions for investments by investors of one Contracting Party in the territory of the other Contracting Party, recognizing that the promotion and mutual protection of such investments favors the expansion of economic relations between the two Contracting Parties and stimulates investment initiatives, agreed as follows:

Article 1 Definitions

For the purposes of this Agreement: 1. The term "investment" means any type of property owned or controlled directly or indirectly by an investor of one Contracting Party in the territory of the other Contracting Party, provided that the investments are made in accordance with the laws and regulations of the other Contracting Party, and may include in particular, but not exclusively: (a) movable and immovable property, and as well as any other property rights such as rent, mortgage, right of retention, pledge, usufruct and similar rights.; (b) a company and an enterprise, shares, shares or other forms of participation in companies or enterprises; (c) monetary claims or any performance having economic value; (d) intellectual property rights, technical processes, trade names, know-how, goodwill and other similar rights; (e) business concessions granted by national legislation, administrative decision, or under contracts, including concessions for the exploration, development, extraction, or exploitation of natural resources. Goods that, according to the lease agreement, are at the disposal of the lessee on the territory of one Party by the lessor, who is an investor of the other Party, must be provided with a regime no less favorable than investments. Changing the form in which assets are invested does not affect their nature as an investment. 2. The term "investor" of a Contracting Party means: (a) any natural person who is a national of the State of the Party in accordance with its law; (b) any legal entity or other organization organized in accordance with the law applicable in that Contracting Party; (c) any legal entity not formed in accordance with the law of that Contracting Party, but controlled by an investor, as defined in subparagraphs (a) or (b). 3. The term "income" means funds received from investments, in particular, but not exclusively, including profits, interests, capital gains, dividends, royalties or payments. 4. The term "territory" means the territory of each Contracting Party, as well as exclusive economic zones, the seabed and the subsoil, over which the Party exercises sovereign rights and jurisdiction in accordance with international law for the purpose of exploration, exploitation and conservation of natural resources.

Article 2 Promotion and protection of investments

1. Each Party must, in accordance with its legislation in the field of foreign investment, encourage and allow investments of investors of the other Contracting Party into its territory. 2. In accordance with national legislation relating to the entry and stay of foreigners, individuals working for an investor of one Contracting Party, as well as their family members, are allowed to enter, stay and leave the territory of the other Contracting Party in order to carry out activities related to investments in the territory of the latter Contracting Party. 3. Each Contracting Party must always ensure fair and equitable treatment of investments by investors of the other Contracting Party and not violate by unreasonable or discriminatory measures the management, maintenance, use, possession or disposal of investments, the purchase of goods and services or the sale of their products. 4. Investments made in accordance with the laws and regulations of the Contracting Party in whose territory they are invested must enjoy the full protection of this Agreement, and in no case will the Contracting Party provide treatment less favorable than that required by international law. Each Contracting Party must comply with any obligation it has entered into with an investor of the other Contracting Party in respect of their investment. 5. Each Party shall provide effective means for making claims and exercising rights regarding investments covered by this Agreement. 6. Each Contracting Party shall ensure that its laws, regulations, administrative practices and procedures of general application, and judicial decisions that relate to or affect investments covered by this Agreement are promptly published or otherwise made publicly known. 7. The income earned from the investment will be given the same treatment and protection that is provided for the investment.

Article 3 National and most-favored-nation investment regime

1. Each Party should apply to investments made in its territory by investors of the other Contracting Party a regime no less favourable than that granted to investments made by its own investors or investors of a third Country, which is more favourable. 2. Without prejudice to the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article, a Contracting Party that has concluded or may conclude an agreement on the formation of a customs union, common market, or free trade area is free to provide, by virtue of such agreements, more favorable treatment for investments by investors of a State or States that are also parties to the aforementioned agreements or investors of some of these States. 3. The provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article shall not be considered as obliging one Party to extend to the investors of the other Party the benefits of any regime, preferences or privileges arising from any international agreement or arrangement wholly or primarily related to taxation, or domestic legislation wholly or primarily related to taxation.

Article 4 Expropriation

1. No Contracting Party shall take measures directly or indirectly depriving an investor of another Contracting Party of an investment, unless the following conditions are met: (a) the measures were taken in the public interest in accordance with the procedure established by law; (b) the measures are not discriminatory; (c) the measures are accompanied by provisions for the payment of prompt, adequate and effective compensation, which must be transferred without delay in a freely convertible currency. 2. Such compensation should be equal to the fair market value of the investment expropriated immediately prior to when the expropriation or impending expropriation became known in a manner that affected the value of the investment (hereinafter referred to as the "Valuation Date"). Such fair market value will, at the investor's request, be expressed in a freely convertible currency based on the market exchange rate prevailing for such currency at the Valuation Date. Compensation must also include interest at the commercial rate set on a market basis from the date of expropriation to the date of payment. 3. The provisions of paragraphs (1) and (2) of this Article shall also apply to income from investments, as well as, in the case of liquidation, to proceeds from liquidation. 4. When a Contracting Party expropriates the assets of a company or enterprise in its territory in which investors of the other Contracting Party have investments, including in the form of ownership interests, it must ensure that the provisions of this article apply to the extent necessary to guarantee prompt, adequate and effective compensation in respect of investments by investors of the other Contracting Party. The parties.

Article 5 Compensation

1. Investors of any Contracting Party whose investments incur losses in the territory of the other Contracting Party as a result of war or other armed conflict, national emergency, revolution, insurrection or riots, shall be provided with a regime no less favorable for restitution, compensation, compensation or other settlement than that provided to its own investors or investors of any kind. a third State. The resulting payments must be transferable without delay in a freely convertible currency. 2. Without prejudice to paragraph 1 of this Article, to investors of a Contracting Party who, in any of the situations referred to in this paragraph, incur losses in the territory of the other Contracting Party as a result of: (a) the requisition of his investments or part thereof by the forces or authorities of the latter Contracting Party; or (b) the destruction of his investments or part thereof by the forces or authorities The last Contracting Party, which was not required by the necessity of the situation, will be provided with restitution or compensation, which in any case will be prompt, adequate and effective.

Article 6 Transfer of payments

1. Each Contracting Party should allow, without delay, the transfer in freely convertible currency of payments related to investments, including in particular, but not exclusively: (a) income; (b) proceeds from the total or partial sale or liquidation of any investment by an investor of the other Contracting Party; (c) funds for the payment of loans; (d) compensation under articles 4 or 5; and (e) the income of individuals who are not citizens of its State, who are allowed to work in connection with the investment in its territory and other amounts intended to cover the costs associated with the management of the investment. 2. Any transfer referred to in this Agreement must be made at the market exchange rate prevailing on the day of the transfer in respect of cash transactions in the transfer currency. In the absence of a foreign exchange market, the most recent exchange rate applied to domestic investments or the most recent exchange rate for currency in Special Drawing Rights, which will be the most favorable for the investor, will be used.

Article 7 Subrogation

If a Contracting Party or an agency designated by it makes a payment to any of its investors under an insurance contract or guarantee provided for investments in the territory of another Contracting Party, the latter Contracting Party will, without prejudice to the rights of the previous Contracting Party under Article 9, to recognize the transfer of any right or title of such investor to the previous Contracting Party or to an agency designated by it, and the right of the previous Contracting Party or agency designated by it to exercise by virtue of subrogation any such right or title to the same extent as the predecessor.

Article 8 Disputes between an investor and a Contracting Party

1. Any dispute concerning investments between an investor of a Contracting Party and another Contracting Party should, if possible, be settled through negotiations. 2. If any such dispute cannot be settled within six months after the date on which the dispute is filed by the investor by written notification to the Contracting Party, each Contracting Party hereby agrees to submit the dispute of the investor's choice for settlement to one of the following international arbitrations: i) The International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) for settlement by arbitration in accordance with the Washington Convention of March 18, 1965 on Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Citizens of Other States, provided, that the States of both Contracting Parties have acceded to the said Convention, or ii) An additional body of the Center, if the Center is not available under the Convention, or (iii) ad hoc arbitration established under the rules of Arbitration of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). The appointing body, according to the mentioned rules, should be the Secretary General of the ICSID. If the parties to such a dispute have disagreements regarding conciliation or arbitration as the most appropriate method of settlement, the investor should have the right to choose. 3. Any arbitration under the Rules of the subsidiary body or the Rules of the United Nations Arbitration Commission on International Trade Law, at the request of any party to the dispute, must be conducted in a State that is a party to the United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, done in New York City on June 10, 1958 (New York Convention). 4. The consent given by each Contracting Party in paragraph 2 and the filing of the dispute by the investor in accordance with the said paragraph constitute the written consent and written agreement of the parties to the dispute to submit it for resolution for the purposes of Chapter II of the Washington Convention (Jurisdiction of the Center) and for the purposes of the Rules of the subsidiary body, Article 1 of the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules and Article 2 of the New York Convention. 5. In any proceedings related to an investment dispute, a Contracting Party should not claim as a defense, counterclaim, right of set-off or for any other reason that compensation or other compensation for all or part of the alleged damage was received in accordance with the insurance or guarantee contract, however, the Contracting Party may require proof that The compensating party agrees that the investor exercises the right to claim compensation. 6. Any arbitral award made in accordance with this article shall be final and binding on the parties to the dispute. Each Contracting Party must comply without delay with the provisions of any such decision and ensure that such decision is enforced on its territory.

Article 9 Disputes between the Contracting Parties

1. Any dispute between the Contracting Parties concerning the interpretation or application of this Agreement, if possible, should be settled through negotiations between the Contracting Parties. 2. If the dispute cannot be settled in this way within six months after the date on which such negotiations are requested by either Contracting Party, it will, at the request of either Contracting Party, be submitted to the arbitral tribunal. 3. The arbitral tribunal shall be established separately for each case, each Contracting Party shall appoint one member. The two members must then agree on a third-country national as their chairman, who is appointed by the two Parties. The members must be appointed within two months, and the chairman within four months, from the date on which either Contracting Party notified the other Contracting Party of its desire to submit the dispute to the arbitral tribunal. 4. If the time limits referred to in paragraph 3 of this Article have not been met, any Contracting Party may, in the absence of any other relevant agreement, invite the President of the International Court of Justice to make the necessary appointments. 5. If the President of the International Court of Justice is limited in the exercise of the function provided for in paragraph 4 of this Article or is a national of any Contracting Party, the Vice-President must be invited to make the necessary appointments. If the Vice-President is restricted in the exercise of the said function or is a national of a State of either Contracting Party, the most senior member of the Court, who is not limited in rights or is not a citizen of either Contracting Party, will be invited to make the necessary appointments. 6. The arbitral tribunal shall make a decision by a majority vote, and the decision shall be final and binding on the Contracting Parties. Each Contracting Party shall bear the expenses of the member appointed by that Contracting Party, as well as the costs of its representation at the arbitration hearings; the expenses of the chairman, as well as any other expenses, will be borne in equal parts by the two Contracting Parties. The arbitral tribunal may, however, indicate in its decision that one of the Contracting Parties will bear most of the costs. In all other respects, the procedure of the arbitration court should be determined directly by the court itself.

Article 10 Application of the Agreement

1. This Agreement applies to all investments made before or after its entry into force, but will not apply to disputes involving investments or claims related to investments that arose before its entry into force. 2. In no case will this Agreement limit the rights and interests that an investor of one of the Contracting Parties to the contract has received in accordance with national or international law in the territory of the other Contracting Party.

Article 11 Entry into force, period of validity and termination

1. The Contracting Parties shall notify each other when the constitutional requirements for the entry into force of this Agreement have been fulfilled. The Agreement shall enter into force on the first day of the second month following the date of receipt of the last notification. 2. This Agreement remains in force for a period of fifteen years. Thereafter, it remains in force until the expiration of twelve months from the date on which either Contracting Party notified the other Contracting Party in writing of its decision to terminate this Agreement. 3. With respect to investments made before the date on which the notice of termination of this Agreement entered into force, the provisions of Articles 1 to 10 will remain in force for fifteen years from that date. In witness whereof, the undersigned, duly authorized to do so, have signed this Agreement.

Done in Stockholm on October 25, 2004, in two copies in English.

For the Government For the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kingdom of Sweden

President

Republic of Kazakhstan

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